Irish Examiner - 04/01/06
Indaver seeks to increase size of planned incinerator
By Dan Collins

A MAJOR environmental row is about to re-ignite in Co Meath following the decision by Indaver Ireland to reapply for permission to increase the size of its waste incinerator just one month after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the original plan.

Last November, the EPA granted the Republic's first two licences for proposed incinerators at Carranstown, near Duleek in Co Meath, and Ringaskiddy in Co Cork.

Yesterday, the company which will operate both plants, Indaver Ireland, announced details of its intention to lodge a new planning application with Meath County Council.

The principal change, if new permission is granted, would be an increase in the capacity of the 25 acre Duleek waste-to-energy facility to allow it operate within a range of 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes a year.

Labour Party member of Drogheda Borough Council and Louth County Council, Gerald Nash, yesterday reacted angrily to the company's revised plans.

Mr Nash, who represented Drogheda Borough Council at the oral hearing into the granting of a waste management licence to operate the plant last March, said: "I predicted some time ago that Indaver already had plans to expand the Carranstown plant before the facility for which they received permission is built and operational.

"I also predicted that within a year or two, the company would decide to extend the plant to allow it to take waste not just from the four north-eastern counties, but possibly from the rest of the country.

"Indaver's plans for Carranstown to become a dumping ground for the rest of the country are well advanced and will continue to be resisted by the people of the area. It is important that those of us who are vehemently opposed to this facility, which will be located in one of the most urbanised areas of the country, carefully examine the application in the coming days and mount a strong and informed challenge against it."

Indaver said that while the EPA issued a waste licence for the 150,000 tonnes per annum incinerator with energy recovery as recently as November 2005, the company had been seeking approval to develop an incinerator in the region since November 2000.

Indaver Ireland project manager Jackie Keaney said: "The facility will treat 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes of municipal, industrial and other combustible waste annually and will not be capable of operating in excess of 200,000 tonnes of waste per annum."